By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — A fire alarm that evacuated John Lance Arena about 15 minutes before tipoff sounded a little early.
The alarm thankfully was false — burnt popcorn reportedly set it off — but Missouri Southern scorched the net at the start of both halves and blitzed Missouri S&T; 110-66 on Friday night in the opening game of the Chatters/Comfort Inn Basketball Classic.
The Lions shot 51 percent from the field — 57 percent in the second half — and scored their most points ever in a season opener against an NCAA Division II team. The Lions, ahead 51-36 at halftime, made nine of their first 13 shots in the second half to widen the margin to 74-42 with 14 minutes left.
“I can’t remember a better opener against a quality opponent,” head coach Robert Corn said. “Missouri S&T; is a pretty good basketball team, but we really got into positive flow. We started the game well. I thought we hit a little lull in the middle of the first half, but we were able to finish the half off with a little run and were able to go in up 16 (51-35).
“Then at the start of the second half, we went on a flurry where our guys played with a tremendous amount of effort, got some steals, and then they converted on the offensive end. We got into a free style of play where everything was going pretty smooth.”
“We wanted to come out and set the tone for our season,” said Mariun Price, who fired in 27 points to lead five Lions in double figures. “We wanted to play hard on both ends of the court. I think we did a great job of that.”
Price, 6-foot-1, 171-pound senior guard, nailed 9-of-14 shots from the field, 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and 4-of-4 free throws for his 27 points, nine more than his former high.
Price scored half of the Lions’ 22 points in the first seven minutes, had 15 points at halftime and supplied an exclamation point with a steal and one-handed slam from the right side with eight minutes left that brought his teammates to their feet.
“I didn’t see that coming. I’m not sure anybody saw that coming,” Corn said. “Mariun is such a likeable person. When he does something like that, everybody is happy for him. And he’s happy for himself, too.”
Price, however, prefered to talk about the Lions’ shooting, not his.
“We as a team shot it well,” he said. “We executed, we got open looks, and we knocked them down.”
Junior guard Skyler Bowlin netted 14 first-half points and finished with 20, plus seven assists for the Lions. Guard Travis Jones tallied 15 points off the bench, forward DaRell Crittendon sored 13 and center Keane Thomann scored 10.
Forward Rich Borries snared seven rebounds as the Lions held a 36-29 rebounding advantage, and the Lions’ disruptive defense led to 36 Miner turnovers. The Lions made 17 steals, including four by Bowlin, three by Borries and two by Price and T.J.Williams.
“That’s the way we want to play,” Price said. “We want to force teams to take shots and make passes they don’t normally take.”
“We did a nice job of trapping when we’re supposed to,” Corn said. “Other than about five or six trips in the first half when we allowed open 3-point shooters, our press was pretty effective. And I thought our halfcourt defense was much better than it was against Livin’ The Dream.”
Bryce Foster, 6-4 freshman, hit 7-of-9 field goals, 4-of-6 free throws, for 21 points to lead the Miners (0-2). Foster is the son of Greg Foster, the silver medalist in the 110-meter hurdles in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Lions continue classic play tonight at 5 against Haskell (1-7).
PSU 96, Haskell 54
The Gorillas (2-0) jumped out to a 23-0 lead before Haskell scored on a goaltending violation with 12:53 left in the first half.
Rodney Grace had 15 points and eight rebounds for PSU, which led 51-22 at halftime. Spencer Magana added 14 points and Quincy Owens had 10 points and eight boards.
Terrance Little-Thunder, 6-10 senior from Rattle Snake Creek, S.D., scored 12 points for Haskell, and 5-10 guard Dominic Clichee had 10.
The Gorillas face Missouri S&T; tonight at 7.
